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" As with many teens, my first jobs included babysitting and mopping floors at McDonald's. Since then, I've held jobs a diverse as selling used cars, selling apparel, cosmetics, and real-estate, substitute-teaching six graders, teaching undergraduate creative writing, and working as an editorial assistant for a literary magazine. "

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" My creative workday starts with strong breakfast tea and a few minutes of journaling, both of which help me get my head in the story. So much of story-building for me involves immersing myself in the character and situation I'll be working on, just the way an actor does when playing a role. "

Therese Fowler

Breakfast

Character

Myself

" I went looking for some preliminary information, and very quickly was struck by the sort of way the surface-level knowledge about Zelda doesn't begin to describe the person that she really is. You know, I had come to the project with the idea that she was, you know, just F. Scott Fitzgerald's crazy, disruptive wife. "

" Point-of-view is a matter that readers rarely pay attention to, yet it's one of the most important story decisions an author makes. "

" My stories seem to always in some way explore mistakes and misapprehensions and the possibility of redemption - though that redemption doesn't always occur in expected ways. "

" I'm among the first girls ever to play Little League baseball, and to my knowledge, the very first in western Illinois. It was 1976, and I was a nine-year-old tomboy whose older brothers had played. "

" Conventional wisdom tells us to avoid taking unalterable action while at a low point in life. I have never been conventional. "

Therese Fowler

Action

Point

" The distinctions of what makes a book one genre or another can sometimes be a bit muddy, but generally it's a matter of projecting who the audience will be, which is a judgment that's based on the subject matter. 'Mainstream' is the cleanest label for a book that draws readers of both sexes and from a wide age-range. "

" No writing effort is ever wasted. At the very least, it's practice, and a writer never knows when he or she might usefully cannibalize an earlier effort for something new. "

Therese Fowler

Practice

She

" At 19, I went to live in the Philippines for three years as a U.S. Air Force 'dependent spouse.' I lived off-base in Angeles City and had to haul water for drinking and cooking. "

" The history of storytelling isn't one of simply entertaining the masses but of also advising, instructing, challenging the status quo. "

" My husband and I have, in some ways, a non-traditional relationship - especially when it comes to domestic duties. He does most of the cooking, dishes, and laundry, while I do most of the yard work. I love to mow the lawn! And I take great satisfaction in planting and pruning. "

" Predictability is boring! I want a book to take me someplace I haven't been before, show me sights I haven't seen, make me ponder questions I may not have pondered before. "

" There are as many routes to writing success as there are writers who got there. My advice, however, applies across the board: read widely, learn the craft by whatever means you can - workshops and writing programs are ideal, but even self-study can work - apply what you learn, and persevere. "